Vegas on CBS

Originally Posted by Steve S 

I liked it a lot--good acting and storytelling. Unfortunately I'm a real car nut and spotted lots of cars that were too new, but at least there were no touch-tone phones or square screen color tvs.

Originally Posted by WaTaGuMp 

I don't mind shows about Vegas, but seeing it from the 60's bored me.

Originally Posted by WaTaGuMp 

I don't mind shows about Vegas, but seeing it from the 60's bored me.

Originally Posted by NetworkTV 

It should be pointed out, that all color TVs were square screens. Only early black and white ones were round.

Originally Posted by Oscar Duece 

I'm sure I saw a couple '63 Fords in there, also
RCA did manufacture color TV's in the 1960's with round picture tubes. Google RCA Model CTC-11H Color Television to see one.

Originally Posted by CPanther95 

The beginning of the episode said "Las Vegas 1960" IIRC.

Originally Posted by NetworkTV 

Hmmm...I could have sworn we were over that round thing by then.

Originally Posted by 73shark 

That's what I saw and the first Ford I saw was a 1964.
Go figure. Artistic license or just lazy?

Originally Posted by CPanther95 

The beginning of the episode said "Las Vegas 1960" IIRC.

Originally Posted by Steve S 

it did. The black Lincoln that Chiklis rode around in was a 1961 model with a bad chug in the engine and wide whites which were already out of style by then, in favor of narrower whitewalls. The lady DAs T-bird was on the same body shell as the Lincoln and the basic shell was introduced for the 1961 model year (replaced the 4 seater "squareBird that ran from the 58 thru 60 model years) but the hashmarks on the side of hers were added in 62 or 63. The yellow mopar taxi(s) was no newer than 1962. The crooked male DA drove a 63 or 64 Pontiac (no stacked headlights on 61s). Some of the cop cars could have been 61s but most were newer. the bad guy's blue Caddy did look like a 61 model with the skedge line above the rocker panels--if it was a 2 door, however it could not have been a 61 as it had the wide C pillars and 61 models had very thin C pillars. I'm not that familiar with pickups of the era but one of them had aftermarket spoked white steel wheels which date from the 70s or so.
If you check the scene where Quade's character is riding in the back of the cop car after being summoned by the mayor you'll see that the rear seat upholstery was red cloth, not the black vinyl that a cop car would have, and that in the over-the-driver's shoulder shots the column shift lever is either in Park (if it's an automatic) or 2nd gear (if it's a stick). Three on the tree cars were never driven in 2nd gear at cruise or anything below about 25mph on level roads.
I'll accept the presence of 61 model cars as they would have been available from about sept or oct of 1960.
There wasn't a single 1960 model car in the whole show.
As for tvs, no color sets were shown at all, and that's realistic because until Bonanza started broadcasting in 1960 they were very scarce. I'd expect the Casino boss to have one but his living quarters were never shown. Square screen color sets came a year or three later, first sold by Motorola iirc.
I'm not pointing these out as deal killers by any means, and they didn't take me out of the show, but I should say that they didn't do as good a job avoiding anachronisms as Mad Men.

Originally Posted by Ben Hardy 

Regarding Mad Men, the very first episode (in 1960) used all of the hit songs of 1956. Although wonderful songs, NOBODY in 1960 would be listening to 4 year old "pop" music.
Yeah, I'm nit picking, but if you were a teenager coming up in that time frame, you'd understand. Music WAS important, so what's the point in using music from a different era.
A current period show that "gets it right", cars, music, costumes, etc. is "Magic City". Second Season in 2013 on Startz.
Vegas will get better.

Originally Posted by Steve S 

it did. The black Lincoln that Chiklis rode around in was a 1961 model with a bad chug in the engine and wide whites which were already out of style by then, in favor of narrower whitewalls. The lady DAs T-bird was on the same body shell as the Lincoln and the basic shell was introduced for the 1961 model year (replaced the 4 seater "squareBird that ran from the 58 thru 60 model years) but the hashmarks on the side of hers were added in 62 or 63. The yellow mopar taxi(s) was no newer than 1962. The crooked male DA drove a 63 or 64 Pontiac (no stacked headlights on 61s). Some of the cop cars could have been 61s but most were newer. the bad guy's blue Caddy did look like a 61 model with the skedge line above the rocker panels--if it was a 2 door, however it could not have been a 61 as it had the wide C pillars and 61 models had very thin C pillars. I'm not that familiar with pickups of the era but one of them had aftermarket spoked white steel wheels which date from the 70s or so.
If you check the scene where Quade's character is riding in the back of the cop car after being summoned by the mayor you'll see that the rear seat upholstery was red cloth, not the black vinyl that a cop car would have, and that in the over-the-driver's shoulder shots the column shift lever is either in Park (if it's an automatic) or 2nd gear (if it's a stick). Three on the tree cars were never driven in 2nd gear at cruise or anything below about 25mph on level roads.
I'll accept the presence of 61 model cars as they would have been available from about sept or oct of 1960.
There wasn't a single 1960 model car in the whole show.
As for tvs, no color sets were shown at all, and that's realistic because until Bonanza started broadcasting in 1960 they were very scarce. I'd expect the Casino boss to have one but his living quarters were never shown. Square screen color sets came a year or three later, first sold by Motorola iirc.
I'm not pointing these out as deal killers by any means, and they didn't take me out of the show, but I should say that they didn't do as good a job avoiding anachronisms as Mad Men.

Originally Posted by NetworkTV 

They probably figured most people wouldn't notice. Sometimes you have to use what you can get ahold of from collectors and rental outlets.
People talk about cars today "all looking the same" when it's always been like that. Back in the 50's and early 60's, nearly all cars had fins and trucks had tombstone grills, round headlights and big fenders. Later, it was quad headlights, huge C-Pillars and blacked out grills on muscle cars. By the 80's, it was a style known as "generic ugly motivated by anemic power" accented by quad square headlights and razor thin, squared off front ends on 4 cylinder sports cars. By the mid eighties, it was all about the retractable headlights until everyone realized they were a pain in the butt in the winter when you had to lock them open to keep them from freezing shut.
With rare exceptions, the average person wouldn't be able to tell any of them apart. People might immediately recognize the iconic design of a '63 Vette as being a Vette, but few could tell you the year.

Originally Posted by 73shark 

I couldn't disagree more re: not being able to tell one car from the next back in the 50s & 60s. Maybe the upperclass in the cities can't but the folks out in small town America and on the farms certainly could. The 56, 57, 58, & 59 Chevys were distinctly different from each other as were the Fords. Chrysler products somewhat different each year, just not as much.
Today I'll bet you could take 50 cars, remove the logo and 1 out of 10 people couldn't even tell you the manufacturer, let alone the model.
I agree w/ Bobby94928. Graduated in '60 and listened to late 50s music. How could we not as it was the birth of Rock 'n' Roll.

Originally Posted by 73shark 

My point was/is that cars in the 50s/60s didn't all look alike.

Originally Posted by NetworkTV 

What you really mean is, to you they didn't look the same.
To most people, fins were fins and muscle cars were muscle cars. I'd be surprised if the average person could spot the difference between a 50s era Pontiac vs a Ford vs a Mercury from the same year without the name plates. Likewise, most couldn't tell a Charger from a GTO from a Camaro without the emblems.
I guarantee, 90% of the viewers didn't catch the anachronisms with the vehicles.
They'd be more likely to question a car phone in the show, yet those have been around since the 40's.